Blair Planning

Chimney Rocks Trail Stabilization

In 2018 and 2019, Blair Planning worked with the PennState Sustainable Communities Collaborative and instructors Jeffrey Catchmark and Megan Marshall to study the ongoing erosion problem on the main trail at Chimney Rocks Park. The instructors engaged a team of students from a two-semester environmental design class to undertake a study and report to address the problem in a practical, economical manner.

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The resulting report, to the right, succeeded in identifying simple solutions easily implemented with local materials and local labor within the means of the municipal budget. The students, Molly Laurie, Annaliese Long, and Nelson Zhukas, also had the honor of seeing their research published in a peer-reviewed professional journal.

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The project is slated to be constructed as proposed in the coming year. This will serve to greatly reduce the erosion on the trail, preventing soil loss and the difficulty in using the trail.